With Urban Meyer's mention of less than satisfactory recruiting and depth at the tight end position, and remembering the down-to-the-wire recruiting of South Jersey's Mike Gesicki - who chose PSU over OSU, I can't help but wonder what that kid's frame of mind must be at this moment.
Point blank - Meyer said to Gesicki, you're...
But the kid passed. Like Christian Hackenberg, he bought into what Bill O'Brien was selling, and willingly stepped into that mess that is PSU. He looked into the eyes of greatness, and said, "no". Even when O'Brien left, and he could've reconsidered his verbal, the kid still chose "uncertainty" over 2-time 3-time NCAA champion Urban Meyer.
Being here in PA, and watching what Temple did to that PSU O-line, and to Hackenberg - to the PSU "passing game" - I couldn't help thinking about his recruitment and where things now stand. What the kid is now missing is historic!
Sandwiched in between Ohio State games in which Ohio State completed an unprecedented run to the first CFB Playoff national title, and then unveiled what may be a roster of talent for the ages at Virginia Tech in what was the most-watched opening weekend game ever on ESPN/ABC, Gesicki started in a historical debacle of a game in which he caught zero passes, and PSU lost to a team that hadn't beat them in 74 years! And with the 10 sacks surrendered, Gesicki's PSU is on pace to shatter the NCAA record for sacks allowed. Definitely not the history you want to be making.
And meanwhile, Urban Meyer would prefer to have a reliable and seasoned tight end available to plug into this imposing machine he's tuning up for a hoped-for historic repeat.
Gesicki really seemed to like and respect Urban Meyer, and unless there's just some kind of mental defect, there's just no way that kid doesn't have one eye on Columbus while wondering what might've been.
This is not to single the kid out - he just happens to be the local example for me of a kid who rejected the best opportunity for greatness. I'm sure there may be one or more in your own area. But sometimes it just boggles the mind to attempt to understand why kids are passing up what they do with Ohio State and Urban Meyer.
Make no mistake, these decisions can be tough - and I feel for some of these kids. We've seen how emotional some of these announcements can be, and even some turmoil playing out in the media over days and weeks - and even on live TV in the midst of an announcement.
I don't feel bad for these kids because they have to choose from among many great options - but because I sometimes believe that that turmoil reveals pressures coming from sources that don't necessarily always have the best interests of the kid in mind. I really think that plays a part in some of these decisions, and explains some decisions I don't understand. I really have to appreciate someone like Ezekiel Elliott, who no doubt was subject to a wide net of influence to stay home - but who fought through it with clarity to seize the opportunity he knew was best for himself.
I think of the hot bed of PSU recruiting that South Jersey is - and of the pressure kids there must feel to join the Philly-area kids in filling that PSU pipeline (northern New Jersey seems less subject to this influence). Rutgers and Temple run up against this all the time.
Not all kids can do what Elliott did, though - and so you end up with kids being "like 'this' me" - instead of the greater version of themselves that could've been at Ohio State under Urban Meyer.
MOD EDIT - Closed thread.
